So he was a licensed pilot flying in normal/unregulated airspace (initially no flight restrictions in NOTAM) . So his actions to that point were legal (and with

So he was a licensed pilot flying in normal/unregulated airspace (initially no flight restrictions in NOTAM) . So his actions to that point were legal (and within the limits of regular established protocols, to use your terminology) . If officials want civilians out of their hair they can declare a temporary flight restriction, which in fact someone did declare 30 minutes after the discussion with the fire official. (And it is strongly implied it was the fire official) That said, some of the people on the ground actually promised to shield him; so there appears to have been a rather strong organizational split wrt attitudes towards pilot assistance. [1] Note that a TFR MAY include coordination contact information. Which this one apparently did: "CTC ASHEVILLE APP WITHIN 20NM ON 125.8" (from the map summary in the September 29 screenshot in the article). The balance of your thesis does seem to come under pressure with the Mon 30 Sept screenshot; which shows the TFR lifted and multiple aircraft (said to be helicopters) working in the area. This is based just on information in this article. You might be basing your opinion on more general information? [1] "...but we can tell you if you come back with the victim, we’ll have you a designated landing spot and we’ll make sure they don’t come over here"